Pepperoni Stuffed Mozzarella Sticks

After making “The Canadian”, I had an abundance of pepperoni and mozzarella cheese leftover. In my efforts to use the rest of it, I had a stroke of genius, creating Pepperoni Stuffed Mozzarella Sticks! Having never made homemade mozzarella sticks, I thought stuffing pepperoni in them might not be the smartest move, but screw it! I did it anyways! While the process of making them was a little tedious, the end result was delicious! Here’s how it went down!

If the mozzarella is cold, you will want to warm the stick up in your hands a bit. If you have the time, I would suggest taking the mozzarella out of the fridge an hour in advance, allowing it to warm to room temperature. Next put the stick of mozzarella on the cutting board, flattening with the palm of your hand. Cut a slice of pepperoni, placing it in the middle of the mozzarella and form the mozzarella around the pepperoni. To form the mozzarella, hold it in your palm, rolling it and pinching it together with your fingers, it should hold together.

Once you have formed your mozzarella sticks together, begin the breading process. Get three separate bowls/plates with the flour, eggs, and panko in them. Start off by rolling the sticks in flour, then coating them in the egg mixture and finally breading them with the panko crumbs.

When you have breaded everything, you can either deep fry them, or pan fry them as I did. To pan fry, get a pan on medium to medium-high heat, with enough canola oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Once the pan has heated, place the mozzarella sticks in the pan, rolling them around to coat with oil, then fry until browned.

You may find the cheese melting, and they will lose their shape as they are cooking, but as you rotate them, browning each side, they should shape up and hold together. They may not be perfectly round, but they will be delicious! Once fried, place them on a paper towel to remove excess oil, and serve!